Should I contact Natwest or not?

sharpy2010

A fair while ago I was a naughty boy and borrowed some money from Natwest that I didn't pay back. In 3 months time this will disappear from my credit report, and my credit report will be blemish free again, and this time I intend to keep it that way (by paying what I owe!).

Anyway the point of the story is that I recently received a letter from Natwest, from their "Customer Refund Team" at their Waterside Court address. It says "Information regarding an account you may have previously held with us".

Now, I am assuming they are making a last grasp effort to recover the thousands of pounds that I owe them, and are hoping that I will ring them to discuss it. Of course, with this disappearing off my credit report in 3 months I've no intention of doing that (judge me if you like).

However, the letter itself actually says "We believe you may have held an account with us in the past that is now closed. There is a possibility we owe you a refund on this account which we would like to discuss with you. You can contact us on blah blah blah, between blah blah, Monday to Friday".

I've no doubt there is nothing owing to me, but if there isn't, why are they saying there might be? Just a ruse to get me to call them?

SnowTiger

sharpy2010 wrote: »

I've no doubt there is nothing owing to me, but if there isn't, why are they saying there might be? Just a ruse to get me to call them?

Dunno. Why don't you put the letter somewhere safe for three months, wait for the debt to become Statute Barred, then contact them?

Perhaps it's just a refund of charges, which would only reduce what you owe them.

sharpy2010

SnowTiger wrote: »

Dunno. Why don't you put the letter somewhere safe for three months, wait for the debt to become Statute Barred, then contact them?

Thats exactly what I was thinking, good call!

What I also thought was that they put on the letter "There is a possibility we may owe you a refund". If they KNOW that isn't the case and actually they are looking to reclaim cash, could it be deemed as unfair sending out a letter that they know is blatently incorrect?!

Just a thought anyway, but yes I'm going to do what you've outlined above and see what happens after that :-)

pqrdef

The old tricks are the best.

SnowTiger

sharpy2010 wrote: »

Thats exactly what I was thinking, good call!

What I also thought was that they put on the letter "There is a possibility we may owe you a refund". If they KNOW that isn't the case and actually they are looking to reclaim cash, could it be deemed as unfair sending out a letter that they know is blatently incorrect?!

Just a thought anyway, but yes I'm going to do what you've outlined above and see what happens after that :-)

I'm surprised the debt is still with Natwest.

Anyway, the refund may well be genuine. You owe them, say, £3,000. They refund you £200 of charges, you still own them £2,800.

If they get you to acknowledge the debt, that SB clock starts all over again.

sharpy2010

SnowTiger wrote: »

I'm surprised the debt is still with Natwest.

Anyway, the refund may well be genuine. You owe them, say, £3,000. They refund you £200 of charges, you still own them £2,800.

If they get you to acknowledge the debt, that SB clock starts all over again.

Is it the case that if I acknowledge the debt AFTER the debt is statute barred then the debt cannot become un-statute barred?

Or is it the case that if I acknowledged the debt 40 years in the future, it becomes unbarred again?

I'm thinking of waiting until its statute barred and then simply writing to them saying if you think you owe me money then just send it to me at this address. Without acknowledging anything else. Is that ok?

sharpy2010

P.s. I was surprised the debt was still with Natwest. Well, it shows as being with them on my credit report, whether or not it really is still with them, who knows, but I assume it is.

pqrdef

If you can't resist doing something, make sure you know exactly when the debt becomes barred. It may not be the same time that it disappears off your credit report.

Don't underestimate their ability to find a way of unbarring it - e.g. by creating a new debt to pay off the old one.

Remember they don't only aim at stupid people - people who're too smart for their own good are also on their hit list.

sharpy2010

pqrdef wrote: »

If you can't resist doing something, make sure you know exactly when the debt becomes barred. It may not be the same time that it disappears off your credit report.

Don't underestimate their ability to find a way of unbarring it - e.g. by creating a new debt to pay off the old one.

Remember they don't only aim at stupid people - people who're too smart for their own good are also on their hit list.

I think that pretty much sums up why I won't be following up on this refund that I know I'm not due to get!

stclair

Did you have ppi on the loan?

dalesrider

You owe them money. They say they owe you money.

Don't reply and all's well in love and debts. Call it karma

I don't judge you for what you are doing on the debt you owe. As has been said this will long since let natwests doors.